Curly

I did think about using a layer of oak for the face of anvil but ran out of time! Basic shape was cut out then it was mostly shaped with a 80 grit flap disc on a grinder, took off a lot of material quickly!

*ok this is maybe not worthy of being placed in the Anvil or tool section but made up these two little wooden items today. It's my daughters first birthday this Saturday and already she likes nothing more than banging random objects together, so thought I'd start her young and put that energy to good use. At least it will be easy to grind out any hammer marks from the face and haven't had a chance to work out the weight yet!

Well that's what I thought John, would buy it in a heart beat if that was the asking price but knowing eBay everyone will wait until the last second to bid and it'll go through the roof! Anyway folks, sorry to hijack this thread can get back to talking about tooling now.

I should have known that was the case! Have my eye on a Denbigh no.4 on eBay that's going for £25/$40 at the moment, I am sure it will go up a bit. Think that would be big enough or still on the small side?

I had just convinced myself that I didn't need an addition of a fly press for my workshop and now I've gone and seen this thread!! So what sort of size press is best suited for forge work? Looks like the possibilities are endless!

Like Colleen says, good time to do some more marketing and finding nee places to sell. Try to think outside of markets. Marketing leaflets dotted around, selling into retailers, chasing leads that you might have found from shows, increasing online presence etc etc Valentines is only around the corner, how are your hearts?! If you really have nothing to do I could do with 2 new workbenches, a plasma cutting table plus generally making my cattle shed less barn like and more forge like. Can supply tea and bacon :)

I'm 8 months in from making a living from selling ironwork, 8 months or so ago I took my first taster class with John B... Even the most simple items you can learn in an hour can bring you an income, it just comes down to finding someone to buy it! I do this via online, shows and now more word of mouth. One of the items we made in that taster class was beer/wine glass holder. I sold over 60 of them in a day during a summer festival I attended this year. You can see what I sell from my website, but nothing is particularly beyond the novice stage! A few things that have served me well over the last 8 months are, firstly I have a very understanding wife! Secondly keep overheads as low as possible, I don't think I've yet brought a new tool (my main forging hammer I picked up for a 50p/50 cents at a local market) and I certainly don't have a fancy commercial property to work from. And lastly it pays to know how to weld, you can pick up lots of jobs from big to small with this skill. Oh and never say no to a job, as in if you don't have the skills it's a great way to learn quickly! Espically if there is a deadline, I find I learn best under pressure! And that's what this site is for :)

Felling a bit like that here at the moment. Was hoping to forge some nice gifts for the family this year. However a national newspaper featured my cooking tripod as one of their top ten Christmas gifts this week. Which I was over the moon about. Now 70 odd tripods later and the last one went out of the door this morning. I now only have a few days left to finish up some other jobs I had on. Will have to see what stock I have left over from shows that I can rebrand as gifts!

With regards to finding some space, have a word with some local farmers. You would be surprised at what they might have unused and would welcome a bit of money each month. Might know a few farmers up on dartmoor (around moretonhampstead) with some space. Send me a pm if that's close enough for you. Not sure where in Plymouth you are.

Thanks reitenger, spelling was never my strong point! Need to add some more items tomorrow so will make sure I remember to change it!

Thanks for the info DSW, think I'll go down the anchor screw route as they look easy enough to install and like you say just set the plates back by 8 inches. If I can't get a decent hole drilled to take the screws I'll use the epoxy method.

Thanks for the replies, so to give a little more information. It's about 30ft long by 8ft wide, pedestrian only, although will have livestock using it from time to time. Mostly just sheep I believe. So it is cast concrete with currently no railings installed or preexisting fixings. The idea is to have simple box section posts with angle railings onto which hardwood boards will be bolted to. DWS, I was planning on using plates and fasteners to set the posts. My original thought was to drill and set some threaded bar into resin and bolt the plates to that. If I were to bolt to the side as well as have a plate sitting on the top then I was hoping that would take the majority of the stress from the thinner part of the concrete slab.

I've been asked to quote for a job to place a set of railings along an old section of highway bridge that the customer is using to span his pond. Anyone worked with these cast sections before? I have attached a quick sketch of the cross section. My real question and main concern is, where the posts will be placed there is only about 2-3 inches of concrete below, will that take being drilled without crumbling or breaking off or is it worth fixing the post to the side and coming up and around that bit? There is probably a good foot overhang. Not sure where the reenforcements are in these large slabs. How would you go about doing this?

Well pleased to say the customer was delighted with the end result! So sorry yves, looks like you will have to get building! It was all based around a 5/8 inch solid bar and stood around 4 foot and a bit tall. Will hopefully get some photos once it's installed. And rest assured John, that bolt was just an old coach bolt I had lying around so I could fix it to a bar to be painted. A proper size one has now been fitted!

So last week I was commissioned to build a weathervane to fit in quite an awkward location, on the gable end of a barn overcoming a 20 inch overhang with little room on the wall so not to obstruct an existing stone plaque. This is how is turned out... Was looking down the laser cutting route to get the motif cut out but the budget I was given didn't justify the cost. Ended up using a hand jigsaw and a metal cutting blade, plus a bit of filing. Only took an hour and think it turned out just as good. Will probably have another support above the highest globe attaching to the wooden joists of the gable end to prevent it from twisting. Enjoyed making a slightly lager project for once and hopefully the customer will be happy with the end result! Let me know what you think.

Hi John, unfortunately will not be able to make the Dorset show this year. Heading to a good friends wedding up in Ipswich. Shame, sounds like a fun compition, quite like making different style bottle openers. Will hopefully get to one of the big shows soon though.

Well 4 months in and I couldn't be happier! So glad I made the daunting decision to jack in the 9-5 office job and take up smithing full time and would fully recommend it to anyone. You don't have to be the best smith in town to make money! Still working very much within my abilities, mostly making BBQ items and cooking tripods. They seem to be my bread and butter at the moment. But have been commissioned to make fire place companion sets and weathervanes so that gives me a good chance to practice new skills. Just got back from a 2 day show where I took more than I used to make a month at my old job. So that was very reassuring! Website wise, my last job was marketing for a software company so got to know my way around building a site which has paid off! Lyndon, I hear Hereford is really good. Formal training wise I have actually only done one taster day and a weekend course on making flowers. The rest is self taught and I am still very much learning as I go! Website name, if you are paying for your domain name then the next step is to basically buy a chunk of space on the Internet. I use one.com and think I payed 10 pounds for the domain name and a years hosting. So it's pretty cheap to do! Steve, prices I am still working out! I am nearly there with what I am happy to charge for certain things and hopefully over the next couple of weeks I'll have ecommence set up on the site so people can buy straight from there.

Yeah nice time of year this with everything growing well. I nearly put in a bid for that hammer but really I lacked the knowledge, space and money... certainly looks like its gone to a very good home though! This one is also for sale at the moment - could be the start of your 'big boy' collection. If that is even considered a big boy?!

Very nice! Was that the one from down here in Dorchester?

Well its taken a bit of a beating today upsetting bars for a fireplace companion set and seems to be holding up fine! Not going to be too worried if it does break but its only being used working small stock so Im sure it will be fine.

Very good point! Did mean to say cast iron, must have been thinking about types of anvils too much :rolleyes:

Each time I go back to the farm I grew up on I always have a good rummage around to see what scrap I can find and put to use. Normally I come away with bits of angle iron and so on. Well last visit I found this old tractor weight going spare and thought it would make the basis for a good freebie swage block. Weighs around 80lbs and is 2-3inchs thick. Guessing its made from a cast steel? As it is it has a couple of different size radii, 90 and 45 degree angle and the handle acts as a good former for bending metal. Will also be good for upsetting bars on. Thinking of cutting some profiles along one of the sides and maybe forming a couple of different size dishes on the face. Although not sure what the best way of going about this would be? Anyway just thought I would share my new find! All the best, Tim

Well I finally got around to taking some photos. So here is the new addition to the workshop. Certainly a massive improvement over the baby anvil and its already paid for its self. So all in all I am a very happy chappy! The face is better than I thought and I am sure whats there will polish out with use anyway. Think it is a Peter Wright although cant see any makers mark on it, has a nice ring to it but been silenced after fixing it down properly with a couple of bits of angle iron bolted across the feet. Couldnt believe how much quieter it became from just doing that. The tools arent bad either. Really nice working with a 3lb hammer, currently seeing what the Hofi technique is all about. The hammer also has a slot at the top of the handle which is meant to reduce shock, no idea if it works but havent seen that before.

Well it would have been rude not to, plus he twisted my arm so ended up having to take on an oak anvil stand, several tongs a nice square faced hammer and a two burner gas forge B) :rolleyes: Who needs a budget?! It was all at a very good price and to be fair the forge is going to a friend, even I cant justify having two gas forges at the same time right now! Picking it all up tonight so will get some pics up later on or tomorrow.

Ok maybe not that dinged! But its always good to aim for perfection!